


The Modern Marauders

by unknowableroom_archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Novel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-08-03
Updated: 2006-08-11
Packaged: 2019-01-19 11:19:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12409329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unknowableroom_archivist/pseuds/unknowableroom_archivist
Summary: As Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny swear an allegiance to destroy the remaining Horcruxes, the Order of the Phoenix has other fish to fry: apparently Voldemort discovered the existence of a fourth Unforgivable Curse which spreads the black death upon the victim. Can Harry destroy the Horcruxes in time, or will medieval horror return?





	1. The Good-Luck Charm

**Author's Note:**

> Note from ChristyCorr, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Unknowable Room](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Unknowable_Room), a Harry Potter archive active from 2005-2016. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project after May 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Unknowable Room collection profile](http://www.archiveofourown.org/collections/unknowableroom).

A chilly wind went through Privet Drive as the moon was shown on a cat, which was in the middle of searching the garden of number four for mice. Unfortunately for the cat, however, the garden didn’t have mice, an accomplishment of Petunia Dursley, Harry Potter’s aunt, and the help of rodent exterminators all over the area.

The Dursleys’ agapanthuses were flourishing even more than last year, a reflection of the Dursleys’ mood towards the approaching departure of their cousin. Harry had been studying the more difficult part of his _Practical Defence Magic and its Use Against the Dark Arts_ books, given by Sirius and Lupin on Christmas in Harry’s fifth year. The fifth book of the series lay open on Harry’s quilt; its images illuminating the ceiling with a difficult spell Harry tried to understand.On a trunk, which had been put against a wall, lay some old editions of the Daily Prophet. One of the front covers showed a picture of Dumbledore’s tomb; another portrayed Hogwarts.

 

***

 

_HOGWARTS WILL OPEN IN SEPTEMBER_

_Yesterday the Minister of Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour, and the Board of Governors of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry decided to let Hogwarts open for students. Last weeks a lot of rumours told that the school could be closed. “The Minister and the Board agreed that kids won’t be safer at home than at Hogwarts. In school, students will also have extra protection. Apart from the teachers and students there will also be a team of Aurors living in the castle,” Undersecretary Percy Weasley said._

_After the death of Albus Dumbledore by former teacher and Death Eater Severus Snape, several parents removed their children from Hogwarts. But after the events at the end of last term, how many of Hogwarts’ students will return September 1?_

 

***

 

Once again, Harry dreamed about Ginny Weasley, his best friend’s sister. Although they weren’t real nightmares, he couldn’t stop sweating and murmuring unrecognizable words in his sleep, waking up with a feeble feeling in his heart. Had he made a mistake, ending his relationship with her?

For the past fortnight, Harry had been forced to endure the pork nosed face of Dudley’s girlfriend, Elisabeth. Dudley, who had noticed Harry’s dislike towards the couple, made sure he was snogging Elisabeth every time Harry was around. Yesterday evening, ignoring the sounds coming from Dudley and Elisabeth’s dribbling mouths, he had announced his departure to the Dursleys and for the first time in his life they had given him a real smile (even Dudley forgot his girlfriend for a split second).

Harry was planning to Apparate to 12, Grimmauld Place, although he hadn’t turned seventeen yet, and therefore didn’t have a license. He figured it was the best place for him to live. He couldn’t expect to spend his entire life at the Weasley’s.

Harry woke early, remembering bits and pieces of his dream. He opened his trunk and put on his robes. As he was watching himself in the mirror, he noticed he had grown. _One of these days I need to go to Madam Malkins’_ , Harry thought. He took his wand, collected his property, which seemed to have spread around the room during the two weeks he had spent at Privet Drive. When his trunk was made, he realised he had yet to tell Ron. He opened his trunk again to remove some parchment and a quill and sat down at the cramped desk to write.

_Ron,_

_I am leaving Privet Drive this morning; I will visit Snuffles’ old place in the morning and Apparate to the Burrow this afternoon._

_Take care!_

_Harry_

He put the note on Hedwig’s leg and whispered: “Take this to Ron, will you? You can stay there if you’d like, I’ll be at twelve, Grimmauld Place. Thanks, Hedwig!” She hooted and flew away.

He looked at his clock; it was a quarter to seven. Harry took his trunk and Hedwig’s cage and tried to go downstairs as silently as he could be. He would have breakfast and leave without saying goodbye. He had nothing to say to them.

 

***

 

Vernon Dursley awoke an hour later, feeling the happiest he had been for sixteen years. His wife, Petunia was already downstairs making breakfast. He stood up, put his dressing gown on and went downstairs.

“Is that damned boy gone?” he barked, hoping the boy would  indeed be gone.

“I think so, his room is empty and he didn’t wash his dish!” answered Petunia happily.

“Good, good,” his face not quite hiding what he was thinking. “I hope he stays away!”

 

***

 

The year without a house-elf clearly hadn’t done the old Black family house good. Although all of the creatures hadn’t come back, everything was pretty dusty. Last time Harry had been here, he hadn’t been alone. And Sirius hadn’t been dead. Mrs. Black’s portrait was covered by a brick wall; Harry wondered whether it was soundproof. _I’ll never find out_ ¸ he thought, _not that I want to find out_. He went to the second floor and found a rather large bedroom. He put down his trunk and Hedwig’s cage in front of the king sized bed. He left the room and decided to visit the entire house.

Harry decided that he had to give every room a purpose, but after exploring, he doubted he would need ten bedrooms, a drawing room, an office, a huge library, six bathrooms, a dining room, a kitchen and an attic full of the artefacts that the Black family had collected over the centuries. Harry figured he would need but five bedrooms (one would be his, two others for Ron and Hermione, one would be Ginny’s and a spare room, perhaps Mr. and Mrs. Weasley could sleep there when it would be necessary). He would also need a practice room; the office could easily be transformed to a study.

_This place will need a lot of cleaning_ , Harry thought, as he pulled out a book titled _Guide to the Success of Purebloods_ , by a certain Edgard McLour. It would take years to clean the house, if he couldn’t use magic. Luckily Harry would turn seventeen in a fortnight, the maximum amount of time he would want to spend at the Burrow.

Harry thought he had time to turn the drawing room into a practice room, as he didn’t felt like destroying a bedroom yet. He pushed the desk on the corridor, and took a mattress from one of the bedrooms. He placed it against the wall of the drawing room; he reckoned it would come in handy when he’d be practicing spells that might bounce back and make him fall. Although it couldn’t be a realistic situation, it was better than running around, covered in bruises.

He remembered the day he had been removing Doxies from the drawing room with the Weasleys, Hermione, and Sirius. Sirius had told him about his youth when they were inspecting the tapestry with the Black family tree. At the same time Harry heard the voice of Slughorn talking about Sirius and his brother Regulus, who was a Slytherin. Then he heard Sirius saying his brother had joined the Death Eaters, influenced by the Black slogan, ‘Toujours pur’. A thought began to seep in his mind. Didn’t the Death Eaters kill Regulus? Lupin had told him so mere months ago. Why had Regulus been hiding from the group he'd been a member of? Had he done something to make Voldemort or the other Death Eaters mad? Harry clutched the locket in his pocket. Could it be? Was Sirius’ brother R.A.B.?

Harry sat in front of the tapestry thinking, wondering, when all of the sudden the doorbell rang. He heard a faint scream from Mrs. Black, which was good, considering he was on the first floor and her voice used to be heard in every room. At least she wouldn’t be bothering him a lot in the near future…

 

***

 

A hooting sound woke Ron Weasley early in the morning (at least, what Ron felt like early). Ron’s first thought was that of cursing at the owl. Who in their right mind would send him an owl at this time of the day? He got up, rubbing his bleary eyes, but the owl didn’t stop hooting and flapping. As he walked to the window, he bumped against the other bed in his room. He wondered where it had come from, but quickly remembered it had been there forever. Ron opened his window and the owl flew inside.

“Oh, it’s you, Hedwig,” Ron mumbled, unfolding the message Harry had sent. After reading the note, Hedwig flew to the top of the closet where a small owl was eating. Pigwidgeon, Ron’s owl, made space to let Hedwig eat as well. Ron got dressed and went downstairs as a rumble of hunger emanated from his stomach.

“Hello, dear. How come you’re up this early?” asked Mrs. Weasley, surprise evident in her tone.

“Hedwig. Harry sent me a note, saying he’ll arrive this afternoon, but he’s going to Sirius’ place first,” said Ron, while grabbing a slice of toast.

“All right then, make sure you clean your room before Harry arrives, will you? I don’t want him to have a bad day because your room is a mess.”

“But it is clean, mum! I tidied my room up two days ago, before Hermione came!” Ron argued.

Mrs. Weasley frowned, but was interrupted by the arrival of Ginny and Hermione.

“What’s the fuss about?” yawned Ginny. She took seats next to Ron, whilst Hermione sat opposite Ron.

“Nothing, dear, I was but explaining your brother he has got to clean his room before Harry arrives,” Mrs. Weasley answered. Ginny’s eyes lit up the second she heard Harry’s name. She had been daydreaming a lot about him these days. She hoped she could talk to him, persuade him to admit he was wrong about her safety and their relationship. Yet it was Hermione who first spoke:

“When is he coming?”

“This afternoon. He sent Ron an owl this morning.” Mrs. Weasley said.

Ron was faced with expectant looks from both girls. “He wrote he’d first go to Sirius’ place, I wonder what he’ll do there,” he said through a mouthful of crumbs.

“Isn’t it obvious? He doesn’t want to put pressure on your mum and dad. He needs his own place, of course, now that he is going to hunt down Voldemort instead of going to Hogwarts. Oh, Ron, be a man, will you? It’s just a name!” exclaimed Hermione, as Ron flinched.

“Hermione, are you saying that Harry won’t continue his seventh year at Hogwarts? But he needs the education!” This clearly stunned Mrs. Weasley; she hadn’t expected Harry to drop out. She immediately planned to have a private conversation with Harry as soon as possible. Ron looked angry at Hermione, who gave him a “she’ll have to find out someday!” look.

Later that day, Ron had tidied his room a bit, hoping his mum would stop nagging about it. He had been a bit frustrated by Mrs. Weasley’s going into dithers the past days. He knew it was about the wedding, but hated when she took it out on him. Charlie had come from Romania for the wedding; he slept in Percy’s old room. His Romanian girlfriend slept in Fred and George’s room; it was clear that Mrs. Weasley didn’t want anything to happen between the two of them.

Ginny, on the other hand, had spent the day by more daydreaming and looking forward to see Harry again. If she could only give him a swift kiss on the cheek, she’d be more than happy. She had talked a bit to Hermione, who said she understood her, but Ginny doubted she _really_ understood her. As midday approached, and there still wasn’t any sign of Harry, she began to worry. Had something happened at twelve Grimmauld Place? Was he injured, unable to speak or kidnapped by the Death Eaters? It seemed to be that she wasn’t the only one to worry; Mrs. Weasley’s face began to express fear as well. Ron and Hermione however, were completely unaware of Harry’s absence; they were together in Ron’s room for a couple of hours.

When Mrs. Weasley’s clock sounded five o’clock, Mrs. Weasley couldn’t hold it any more. She went to Ginny’s room and knocked on the door.

“Ginny, can you continue making dinner. I’m going over to twelve Grimmauld Place to see where Harry is. I won’t be long.”

“All right, Mum,” Ginny responded, her mood slightly better, knowing her mother was going to check out what was going on. She stepped into the kitchen as Mrs. Weasley left for the front yard to Apparate.

 

***

 

“Mrs. Weasley!” uttered Harry, surprised by the unexpected visitor. “Please, come in. What are you doing here?”

“Harry! How come you’re still here? We’ve been worried sick! I was worried…I thought something bad had happened.” She tried to sound as if she was angry, but Harry could tell she was pleased he was safe, rather than mad at him. Her face hadn’t completely forgotten the fear she must have felt.

They were standing in the entrance-hall as a silence fell. Both of them realised this was the first they’d ever really been alone together. It was Mrs. Weasley who broke the silence.

“Harry, dear. I’ve heard you won’t go back to Hogwarts next year. Why did you say that? You will need the things you would learn! I would also feel safer if you’d be there for Ron and Hermione. I know they aren’t helpless, but you’ve always been there to help them and, and…really, you can tell me, I won’t tell a living soul what you’d say.”

“Mrs. Weasley, I’ve got to leave Hogwarts. The students there are in danger as long as I'm there. I’ve got to deal with Voldemort, something that is never too late to do. Dumbledore’s gone; I have to continue his fight. He gave me time to grow and learn until I was ready; I am ready. The time has come for me to rise to the challenge.”

“But, Harry, you don’t have to do this by yourself! There’s the Order and, “ she coughed, “the Ministry. Don’t feel guilty about Dumbledore’s death. It’s not your fault.”

“I don’t feel guilty, I’m standing up, which everybody should do. I know I can count on you, Mr. Weasley and the rest of the Order, but the Order has got its own battle against the Death Eaters. As far as I am concerned, the Ministry isn’t doing a thing; they just like to uphold the idea that they are doing something.

“My battle against Voldemort is personal, more personal than anyone else’s. I have got to deal with Voldemort and I don’t want more people to die for me, which will happen if I keep depending on others.

“Don’t try to persuade me, Mrs. Weasley, I will not return to Hogwarts. I know you care about me. You have to know I care about you aswell,” Harry whispered, “you’ve been like a mother to me. I will never forget that.”

Harry’s confession had touched Mrs. Weasley’s heart -- she could not speak, she simply stared at Harry’s brilliant green eyes, which were burning with pride and determination. Finally, Molly Weasley hugged Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived.

“Harry? I have to ask you a question.” Mrs.Weasley said at last.

Harry frowned and wondered what she wanted to talk about, besides his departure of Hogwarts. His best friend’s mother took a long deep breath; and Harry imagined she must have looked like Ginny when she was young.

“I want to talk to you about Ginny. We, that is, Arthur and me, know what the two of you have been up to these past months. We know you love her, Harry. We know she loves you,” she hesitated, “but what has happened? Since Dumbledore’s funeral she simply isn’t the same anymore, not that anybody will be the same after Dumbledore’s departure, but I can guess it isn’t that which makes her so sad. Sometimes I fear she’ll get depressed.”

“I – I – I – I broke our relationship,” he stammered. A pain rose, the beast inside him was wailing. _Why did I end our relationship?_ For a split second he had forgotten. His mind had turned blank, thinking about Ginny. A silent voice in his head was fading in. _You love her, you love her, you love her!_

Mrs. Weasley’s voice brought him back to reality.

“But why, Harry, why?”

He sighed. “Because of some stupid noble reason…”

She grasped his feeling; her mother instinct told her he had to learn from his own mistakes. She conjured a smile on her face, but she didn’t need to use magic.

“Let’s get out of here. I expect dinner will be ready and I suppose you’ll like to see Ron and Hermione. Can you get your stuff?”

“Of course,” he answered.

 

***

 

That evening, Harry had noticed, yet again, the slow dissolving of the trio. As he saw Ron and Hermione he realised they belonged together. His subconscious screamed. He belonged with Ginny.

Mr. Weasley was particularly interested by Harry’s new backpack. He had demanded that Harry open every zipper and to display the amount of things it could hold. As with many Muggle inventions, Arthur Weasley was thrilled by the creativity of Muggles to fill in the large gap of knowing no magic.

Ginny had been silent, if Harry hadn’t felt her eye capturing his face, he might have thought she wasn’t around. He knew the look on her face must have been hopeful, at least he hoped hers were as hopeful as his, when he secretly glanced at her. Though he knew he had to talk to Ron and Hermione about Regulus Black, he didn’t manage to talk to them until the next afternoon. In the mean time, his thoughts were flipping from one side of the spectrum to the other side. From Ginny to the dark shades around Regulus’ existence. Occasionally a spell burst through the rhythm, often a charm to use against dark things like Romilda Vane’s attempts to have him (he still feared chocolates he received as a gift).

“Ron, Hermione? I’d like to have a word with you two,” Harry dropped his voice, “about R.A.B.…” They stopped gazing at each other. Hermione gave Harry a curious look.

They went to Ron’s room; nobody would disturb them there for the moment. Ron and Hermione took seats on Ron’s bed, while Harry sat on ‘his’ bed. Harry clutched the fake Horcrux; a possession that had never left him since the night he and Dumbledore had retrieved it.

“I think Sirius’ brother Regulus is R.A.B.,” Harry confessed.

“How come you’re thinking that?” asked Ron; he couldn’t really figure out the connection.

“Wasn’t he killed by the Death Eaters?” Hermione interjected.

“Yes, he was killed by the Death Eaters. Do you remember R.A.B.’s note?” Harry unfolded the piece of parchment, which he had held in his pocket. He gave the message to Ron and Hermione, his finger pointing at the words “Dark Lord”.

“I hope you are thinking what I am thinking,” he continued, “when I read Dark Lord. This message is either from a former Death Eater, a current Death Eater or Trelawney when making a prophecy. I doubt it was Trelawney, she never remembers her prophecies, and she drinks too much anyway. It can’t be a current Death Eater because of the way they wrote the note. It sounds as if the author of this note had deserted Voldemort’s hierarchy.

“Sirius told me about his brother. It seems he wasn’t much of a player in the Death Eaters; he deserted them. Sirius said Voldemort himself probably didn’t order Regulus to be killed, but how could Sirius have known? Sirius was in the Order, not with the Death Eaters. Perhaps Regulus did something terrible to the Death Eaters for them to hunt him down so quickly. Karkaroff managed to escape the Death Eaters for several year and he betrayed them all!”

Hermione reflected his words. She had to admit it was good thinking and it certainly was something to look into. She started thinking aloud; summarising things they had to do.

“So we’ll have got to take a look at Regulus’ past to know whether he had time to destroy the Horcrux or to hide it in some dark corner. I guess we’ll have got to start looking into archives of the Prophet, perhaps go to the Ministerial Archives, I don’t think we will find a lot about Death Eaters in the library at Hogwarts.”

“Wow, mate, when did you think about this?” Ron asked Harry.

“Yesterday afternoon, it’s the reason I didn’t arrive until the evening. Actually, your mum had come to get me; she said she and Ginny were worried… You didn’t know? Where were you?”

“Erm… in my room…with Hermione,” he cast an anxious look at Harry, and then at Hermione, who looked guilty. She immediately tried to change the subject, holding on the schedule and the to do list she wanted to make.

“What will we do first? Go to the Ministry?”

Harry shook his head. “No, that can wait.” He hadn’t forgotten his intention to visit his mother and father’s graves.

 

***

 

It would have been a hot summer day, hadn’t it been for an unexplainable fog lowered the temperature to hover below twenty degrees, which was quite cold considering it should have been 35 degrees Celsius. The Muggle inhabitants of a tiny village called Godric's Hollow cursed the weatherman once more. "Bloody fog!" a man said in disgust, sticking his head out the front door to check the weather, and paying no attention to the two boys and the girl who were walking into the village. They were wearing ordinary Muggle clothing, and the red-haired boy clearly had to buy new jeans (they were a good five centimetres too short). The girl spoke.

“We need to turn right the third street we come across, after we’ve left the Main Square. Then we will need to find number forty-three. Ron, would you like to check the street names? It’s called East Moor Street.”

“All right, all right,” mumbled the red-haired boy. The second boy, whose black hair was untidy, looked cautious around, his hand in his jacket, clutching a wand, although none of the Muggles would have noticed it, even if they had been paying attention.

After a long walk they ended in the middle of number forty-two and forty-four. They stepped forwards as a ruined and long-deserted cottage came in sight: stones laid astray, the windows were broken and a lot of cobwebs could be seen when they pushed the old, broken door open. Ron shivered and squeaked “spiders”.

“Harry, are you okay?” said the girl, worried about the black-haired boy. He had stopped walking and tears were forming in the corner of his eyes.

“Yeah, I’m all right. I have to go through this, haven’t I?” he said. He started moving, it was better than being glued to the floor, he thought. The small corridor they had entered had entrance to the stairs and two rooms, probably the kitchen and the dining room. He decided he didn’t need to see those rooms, so he went to the first floor. Apparently it had one big room, a combination of a library and... a bedroom, Harry’s old bedroom. Harry entered, followed by Ron and Hermione. Voldemort’s attack had made a hole in the floor, which made it difficult to see what books were on the shelves. Hermione saw there was another door, on the other side of the corridor, through which they could enter the remaining part of the home library; she tapped Harry and Ron’s shoulder, pointing at the door. Ron was watching the dining room below. A look of horror struck his face as he imagined what might have happened there sixteen years ago; then again, it could also have been because of the large spider he saw sitting in a corner. Harry was watching the dining room as well; out of all the cobwebs he distinguished an old cot.

When Harry followed Hermione through the second door, he immediately saw a bunch of letters lying in front of a box on the floor, covered with dust and cobwebs. He grabbed it, blew the dust away and put the bundle in his black backpack. Hermione was skimming a book titled _Guide to Becoming an Animagus_ by John Priscoe. She kept the book and grabbed another one, titled _Great Wizards Through the Centuries_ by Elisabeth Flitwick. She wondered whether Flitwick, their teacher, was related to Elisabeth Flitwick.

Harry had taken a stout book going by the name of _Advanced Offensive Charms_ by Vladimir Zarstuchski and a thin law book, containing the wizarding constitution. _This can come in handy_ , he thought, _although I hope I won’t need it in the near future…_

Ron held a book titled _Spellwork Against the Damned_ by Andromeda Labouvette. He imagined the book would have been magnificent with pictures. As he scanned it for recognizable spells, he noticed there was a whole chapter devoted to the Unforgivable Curse, with black paper, instead of normal white paper.

The trio decided to leave the room, keeping the books they had found. They went up to find another bedroom. It was big and held an old king-sized bed. Against the left wall stood a wardrobe. Harry opened it. The clothes smelled musty, but it didn’t stop him from looking at the robes. Hermione’s eyes had fallen on a pair of shoes on the bottom of the wardrobe and Ron was inspecting a night table, in the dresser laid an old wand. Ron took it and put it inside his robes, later he would give it to Harry. As Ron watched Harry moving the robes in and out of the wardrobe, he was surprised to recognize the latest robe fashion, a certain repeating pattern in front.

After a while they had seen everything there was to see in the house. Ron had given James’ wand to Harry. Harry decided it was time to confront himself with his parents graves. As they found the graveyard a few streets further and searched the entrance, Harry grew weaker. He had never seen his parents’ graves. Could he deal with it?Apparently not, he felt Ron and Hermione’s arms grabbing him as he made way to the ground. It was as if he was fighting his first Dementor, yet he wasn’t alone this time. He had friends that looked after him. Good friends.

 

***

 

Later that day, as Harry, Ron and Hermione entered the kitchen where Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were, along with Ginny, Harry’s emotional wall demolished. He took seats next to Ginny and turned paler than he had been all day. He saw Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Ron and Hermione and Ginny looking at him through suddenly tear-blurred eyes. He couldn’t cope anymore.

He put his head on his resting arms, whilst tears streamed down his face. Ron and Hermione looked at Harry, knowing he’d be like this after visiting his parents’ house and graves, but they couldn’t do much. They took each other’s hands, it had been a hard day for them as well. Mrs. Weasley wanted to comfort him, but Ginny knew her role. She knew he needed her and she was there for him. She caressed his hair. He looked at her, tears still running down his face, but a hopeful look began to grow on his face. He removed himself from his current position and cuddled her. A soft sound could be heard: the locket Harry secretly clutched had fallen. 


	2. Back On The Ground

Later in the evening a stranger entered the living room; it was a Patronus.

“Good evening, Harry Potter, I bring you a message from my mistress, Minerva McGonagall. She lets you know that Dumbledore’s will has been found a week and half ago and you get to inherit a piece of Dumbledore’s possessions. Following items have been sent to twelve, Grimmauld Place: Dumbledore’s Pensieve, along with every bottle of memories, your Invisibility Cloak (which you had left at the Astronomy Tower) and a few personal notes from Dumbledore. The notes are readable just for you, please consider this well. I thank you.”

All of a sudden, the cat-like creature disappeared.

“Wow, Harry! You got his memories; I hope there won’t be snogging scenes of Dumbledore with some old tar –”

“Ron! Watch your words! Dumbledore was a respectable man; he wouldn’t have such memories, though I’ve always wondered whether he had a wife. He was a bit keen on his privacy...”

“Molly, Dumbledore had his reasons to keep his private life private. We shouldn’t interfere or even consider thinking about such things. Harry –” Mr.Weasley continued, “I think this means you’ll want to go to Sirius’ house, your house, excuse me. Old habit.”

“Actually, I don’t think I want to go. It’d be useful to look at them, but I don’t feel like going tomorrow. Memories can wait... I think I’m off to bed,” Harry answered. He kissed Ginny on the cheek, said goodnight to everybody and went to Ron’s room. He hadn’t forgotten the packet of letters he had found in the half destroyed library of his parents.

“Is he always like this?” Charlie asked. He had been visiting some national monuments with his girlfriend Katarina and had arrived only after dinner. Mrs.Weasley clearly appreciated Charlie’s choice more than Bill’s. At least this girl doesn’t suffer from that horrible accent, Mrs.Weasley thought. Katarina wasn’t as beautiful as Fleur, of course, but she had the same motherly qualities Mrs.Weasley thought were important.

“Not really,” Ginny replied, “but give him a break. He has suffered enough lately, especially today. He has visited his parents’ house and graves with Ron and Hermione.”

“Even I got scared by just looking at the place,” Ron admitted.

“I thought you were scared of that big spider that crawled out of the sink?” Hermione teased.

Katarina chuckled. Ginny leaned over to Ron and whispered. “I love Charlie’s girlfriend!”

 

***

 

The evening continued with tales about the visit to Godric’s Hollow, often followed by some joke to lighten the darkness surrounding the visit. As the night grew, Mrs.Weasley told her children, Hermione and Katarina to go to sleep. To avoid the usual moaning she promised there wasn’t bedtime on Bill’s wedding night.

When Ron entered the room, he found parchment scattered at the bottom of Harry’s bed. I hope he’ll feel better tomorrow, he thought, and put on his pyjamas.

Harry’s fourth day with the Weasleys didn’t start joyfully. He isolated himself, not sure what to think. He had been firm to stop moaning about his parents’ deaths or Sirius’ death. He had no desires anymore to have a mother or father and even his mentor had died. Dumbledore had left Harry in charge of the destruction of Voldemort. Ron and Hermione had agreed on helping him with his battle, but could they cope everything? _No, we can’t, but we need to. We must at least try. No. Trying is not enough. It’s a matter of doing or not doing. And I am going to destroy Voldemort, no doubt about that_. Like he had done in the fortnight with the Dursleys, he regained his strength and determination. He had read the last letter his father had sent to his mother. Their love had saved Harry for a long time, but that protection was going to fade away. He would have to take matters in his own hands, with or without protection.***Ron and Hermione weren’t sure whether they should tell Harry, he was a bit depressed lately; yet they noticed a change in his behaviour last night. On the chance of doing right, they approached Harry after lunch, so they could first decide what they were going to say exactly.

“Harry, we have to make a clean breast of something.”

Harry expected this conversation for a long time. _Finally_.

“What’s up, Hermione?”

“Can we talk to you in...er... private?” A curious looking Katarina had followed Crookshanks upstairs.

The conversation itself contained various awkward silences followed by a word or two from either Ron or Hermione. Harry, who made an inquiry of their confession, was enjoying the mere fact of teasing them. When Harry thought he had done enough, he started grinning.

“I’ve been waiting for years for something like this to happen. Of course, you don’t need to think I didn’t notice it before. I just enjoyed the fact that you had difficulties telling me. We’re friends, remember?”

Ron stared at Harry. “You knew? I’ve stressed myself and Hermione to tell you and you bloody knew?”

Harry wasn’t impressed by Ron’s temper and sat back. “Yeah. I mean, you couldn’t be more obvious, all that bickering last year. To tease is to plead, you know.”

Ron looked puzzled, he had never heard of a saying like that.

“It was something my mum used to write to my father; when they were at Hogwarts. It seems that he was teasing her a bit, but actually was begging for her love.”

“Since you’ve started about Hogwarts, Harry,” Hermione continued.

“What about Hogwarts?” Now it was Harry’s turn to look puzzled, he had expected them to announce their relationship, but hadn’t really thought about Hogwarts...

“I know we told you we would help you – and don’t get me wrong, Harry, we will always be there to help you, but Ron and I decided we should probably finish our education by doing our seventh year.”

He considered it for a while and spoke.

“I can’t forbid you two not to go, of course. Maybe it would be good to have someone of us at Hogwarts, who knows what we’ll need to research. But you really promise you will come to help me outside of Hogwarts whenever I need help?”

“We promise, don’t we, Ron?”

“Of course we promise! I hope you’re not going to hate me for this, Harry, but you should have seen my mother when we said you aren’t going to Hogwarts in September. I don’t want her grudges against me...”

“It’s OK, Ron.” With the relieve of his two partners, the beast inside him roared. _Now I have a legitimate reason to see Ginny!_ ***The day continued. It seemed impossible, but Fleur was more nervous than Mrs.Weasley, who barked orders. They had organised things in the morning and tried to follow their time schedule. Everybody had to help: tables had to be conjured, tents had to be placed... But the most important thing that was about to happen: lodging the Delacour family.

Despite the bit of fog, the sun had burst through and temperature was rising. It was actually going to be a summer’s day. Ginny and Hermione would share a room with Fleur’s sister Gabrielle, whilst Fleur’s nephew would sleep with Harry and Ron. The elder Delacours would be sleeping in a luxury tent specially conjured by Charlie. Percy, who had sent an owl to Bill, was going to come for the wedding as well; he was even bringing his girlfriend, Penelope Clearwater. He wouldn’t stay for the reception and the wedding party, claiming he was going to have an early morning – the Minister was going to attend a hearing of the Wizengammot about Stan Shunpike, former driver of the Knights Bus. Mrs.Weasley was very happy he would come, yet the comment about Shunpike had received a suspicious look from the other Weasleys. All younger members of the family had been warned not to do anything to upset Percy. It still was the wedding of their eldest brother.

 

***

 

Ilya Rousseau, a French representative of the International Organisation on Wizardry Ceremonies (the Inorwice as Mrs.Weasley said), was appointed to perform the wedding. Harry had never attended a wedding of witches and wizards, thus wondered how they differed from Muggle weddings. Dumbledore had told him about the ancient magic of love; was marriage an example of such magic? Truth be told, he had never heard of a wizard and a witch getting divorced.

At seven o’clock in the evening numerous pops sounded in the garden. The guests were immediately invited for a dinner which Mrs.Weasley, Ginny, Fleur and Katarina had prepared. After dinner Gabrielle came to Harry. She had turned eleven and was going to Beauxbatons within a month. She talked with him for a while; she wanted to know what exactly had been going on in the years between the Triwizard Tournament and the wedding. Harry was amazed about her English skills; he didn’t know French and he was turning seventeen (not that he had shown any interest in learning the language).

 

***

 

The ceremony was more complicated since Bill and Fleur had chosen the advanced ceremony, where every parent had to give their permission again, only this time with some spell involved. As the two had voiced their love and rings had been given, a green-red magical chain interlinked between the rings. If Harry had known more about Unbreakable Vows, he would have noticed the resemblance.

Percy stayed for the reception, unlike what he had said. He even gave Bill and Fleur a gift which was wrapped in some gold shining magical paper. Fred and George did exchange looks at this, but did nothing, to maintain world peace with their mother.

 

***

 

Mrs.Weasley made Ginny wear an old evening dress which didn’t fit Mrs.Weasley anymore. Though Ginny refused at first, she got convinced when she had seen how beautiful it really was. Hermione wore the finest robe she had found at Madam Malkin's, within her budget. Harry and Ron had put on the robes they had worn on Dumbledore’s funeral, while Fred and George wore clothes of red dragon skin.

“Yeah, the joke shop is running low at the moment. We removed the Darkness powder and other stuff like that from the public. Can you believe that our biggest client is the Ministry? We managed to get a nice contract, which makes us their head supplier of protective material. Not that it was easy, though. That Umbridge woman’s still high in the Ministry.”

Harry’s teeth gritted at the sound of Umbridge’s name and he rubbed the back of his scarred hand. Fred continued.

“She thought she could take revenge on us by advising the Health and Safety Department not to buy from us.”

“Too bad we hired a professional team of wizards to demonstrate our stuff,” George finished, grinning.

“Did they ordered anything for her?” Hermione asked.

“No, why?”

“Oh, nothing, it just would be pity if she’d get something bad without cure...”

At this, everybody roared with laughter. Normally it was Ginny who made everybody crack up, but Ginny wasn’t around. She was sitting alone at the dinner table. Harry was looking at her with mixed feelings. He wanted to tell her about the Horcruxes, but knew Dumbledore had told him to tell none but Ron and Hermione. Yet Harry figured that at the time Dumbledore had told him this, Harry hadn’t yet got close enough with Ginny. He knew Dumbledore’s perspective on love and decided it was the best for the wizarding world that he’d tell Ginny the things he knew. After all, she was a very powerful witch and brave enough to cope with the task. Of course, she wasn’t of age, but Dumbledore had also told him the Ministry can only detect magic, not whether it was performed by an infant or an adult. So when Ron, Hermione or he himself would be around it wouldn’t be that much of trouble. Besides: in times of danger laws are made to be broken.

He told Fred, George, Ron, Hermione and Ron’s Aunt Muriel’s children goodnight. At first they looked puzzled, but understood the minute Harry walked towards Ginny.

 

***

 

“Hi, Ginny.”

“Hello, Harry. What’s wrong?”

“Can I talk to you?”

“You can, what for?”

“Erm...” Harry looked around and saw Tonks trying to persuade Lupin into a dance, but other than that nobody was around, which Harry found weird, considering the amount of people who had attended the wedding. He turned to the chair next to Ginny’s and sat down, facing her.

“I’ve got to confess a few things...” he continued. Ginny’s eyes faintly blinked, an expression of her hope of what she thought he was about to say.

“I made a mistake at Dumbledore’s funeral. I told you about Voldemort’s habit of using people his enemies are close to, which was the main reason I didn’t want to continue our relationship. And it felt wise at the time to do so. I told you I had to hunt Voldemort down alone. But I can’t do it alone. I need you – I need Ron and Hermione.” He paused. She didn’t reply. “Dumbledore told me that I could only talk about this with Ron and Hermione, but that was last summer. We weren’t dating, I didn’t love you that much then. I hope he’d approve of this...”

“So tell it.” Her voice contained a shade of pressure; Harry knew she was getting curious about his vague words.

“Do you remember when you had to give a note of Dumbledore to me? Well, the note was an invitation for a private lesson. It weren’t real lessons, though. He showed me bits and pieces of Voldemort’s past by means of his Pensieve. One of those pieces was an edited memory of Slughorn. Since Dumbledore failed to retrieve the original memory from Slughorn, he ordered me to get it. At first I forgot to do it, it was around the time Ron drunk that poisonous mead. On the night Hagrid buried Aragog, I took a bit of Felix Felicis and managed Slughorn to join the burial. With a bit of persuation I got hold of the memory.”

He said nothing about him running through Ginny and Dean; he was trying to fix things, not blast them to oblivion.

“I managed Slughorn to join the burial. With a bit persuasion I got hold of the memory. I immediately went to Dumbledore. The memory confirmed a theory he had been working on for a while. It confirmed that Voldemort has made six Horcruxes in the course of his life.”

Ginny looked puzzled; she had never heard about Horcruxes. “What’s a Horcrux?”

“It’s a piece of a soul. Basically, Voldemort’s soul is split in seven pieces. He made the first Horcrux when he was at Hogwarts – he killed Tom Riddle Sr. in his sixth or seventh year and made his uncle act like the murderer. The Horcrux he made then was the diary you got from Lucius Malfoy, which I destroyed. Dumbledore himself has eliminated another Horcrux, a family heir of Slytherin, a ring. He has probably used a locket of Slytherin as a third Horcrux, a cup of Hufflepuff as a fourth and Nagini, his snake, as his fifth. The seventh piece is inside Voldemort’s body, which leaves a sixth object to find.”

“That’s why you were off with Dumbledore when the Death Eaters attacked Hogwarts.” Harry was glad she was catching up.

“Dumbledore had found a cave where the infant Riddle once tortured kids from his orphanage. I don’t exactly know how he found it. The cave contained a lake with dead bodies and an island in the middle. On the island there was a basin filled with poison. Dumbledore drank it. It was the only way we could get Slytherin’s locket. He was so weak when we came out of that cave, I had to apparate him to Hogsmeade myself.”

Harry dropped the part of the Inferi; he didn’t like to remember that part of the story.

“But you said that you and Dumbledore only dismantled two Horcruxes. What happened with the locket?”

“We found a fake Horcrux, but Dumbledore never knew. He died before I found out. It contained a note of a certain RAB – which I believe to be Sirius’ brother Regulus. I don’t know what he did with it, though.”

“Why didn’t you tell me before? You clearly need my help... Thanks for the trust you put in me, Harry. I really appreciate it. I’ll be there for you if you’re in need.” He smiled. “Not that I wouldn’t be there for you if you wouldn’t have told me about the Horcruxes,” she quickly added. _Had this been it? Were they lovers again?_

They sat there for a moment just looking at each other. At long last Ginny spoke.

“What are you going to do next?”

“I’m not sure. I have got to look into the memories Dumbledore has left me. They’re probably very important. And I – or Ron or Hermione – need to look into the Ministerial Archives. I also have a feeling I’ll need to go to Albania; Voldemort spent too much time there. One of these days I have to go to Diagon Alley, and I haven’t seen my parents’ graves yet.”

“Don’t forget to visit Hogwarts as well.”

Harry’s first reaction was: “What are you talking about?” But he didn’t took long to unravel her true purpose. _Yeah, I’ll have to visit Hogwarts as well..._

 

***

 

It was past midnight when their conversation stopped. Ginny felt a lot happier now that she knew for sure he wanted her. Her cousin Sarah came down from the rest of the group when she saw Harry and Ginny had “finished” their conversation. Harry, who realised Sarah needed to talk to Ginny about girls' stuff, just gazed at the people on the dance floor. He had noticed Tonks had managed Lupin to dance. Harry laughed at his weird moves and wondered whether Lupin had found the next dance hype, werewolving.

Harry’s thoughts drifted away from the wedding. He began to feel sleepy and wished he could be in his bed, dreaming with Ginny in his arms. But the bed he pictured himself in had grown and Ginny faded away. He was inside a large cave, but it could also have been a cathedral.

“Bring him to me, Bellatrix,” bellowed his voice. A few moments later an old man was brought in by Bellatrix Lestrange, one of Voldemort’s most loyal Death Eaters. She placed him in front of the chair Harry seemed to be sitting in.

“Leave,” he ordered. It was clear he didn’t want witnesses.

“What is it, Voldemort? I won’t make wands for you lot, if that’s what you’re about to ask.”

“Then you’re lucky, because I am not asking that of you. I want you to tell me what you know about the fourth Unforgivable Curse. What is it? What does it do? Confess!”

Ollivander was surprised, but refused to talk. He would not be the one who told Voldemort about it.

“ _CRUCIO_!” echoed Voldemort. The chained man before him screamed. It wasn’t the first Crucio he had received in his year of capture, but it was the first one cast by Voldemort. He had been stuck in a small room for over a year. Sometimes he had wondered whether they had forgotten about him. A couple of days ago, however, he had to side-Apparate blindfolded with a Death Eater. He wasn’t sure in which country he was, they could have taken him anywhere. Perhaps they were nowhere at all.

“I see it makes no difference. Let’s try this again,” an enraged Voldemort said. He tortured Ollivander again, this time with success. Ollivander cracked.

“I’ll tell you! Please stop it!”

“I will not stop until you tell me what the fourth Unforgivable Curse is,” Voldemort expressed.

“It’s the Black Death Curse and casts the black plague. I swear this is all I know, release me!”

“For somebody who has been around as long as you, I consider it rather impossible not to know more about it. How do I conjure it?”

“I don’t know, I don’t know! Please, let me go!”

The voice laughed. “I’ll let you go... _AVADA KEDA –_ “

 

***

 

“NOOOOOOO!” Harry screamed, sweat was all over his body; his hand grabbed his forehead. It took a minute before he realised he was lying on earth – he was back on the ground. A flowery scent crept up his nose as he saw a bunch of red hair covering his face. Ginny comforted him.

“What happened?” Hermione rushed to the place Harry laid, but Harry didn’t notice her. He was safe, but what about Ollivander?

“Ollivander, where’s Ollivander?” Harry mumbled. A couple of members of the Order joined the people around Harry.

“What is he trying to say?” asked Shacklebolt.

“I don’t know what happened; he was sitting next to me and I was talking to Sarah. I think he fell asleep,” Ginny stated.

“What did he muble?” demanded Lupin

“He said ‘Ollivander? Where’s Ollivander?’; but Ollivander’s been missing for over a year now, hasn’t he?” Hermione answered, as Ginny helped Harry get on his feet. _Whatever he saw, it was something nasty, otherwise he wouldn’t be so feeble_ , Ginny thought.

“Yes, he has,” Lupin reflected. “Harry, what happened to Ollivander?”

“Voldemort has killed Ollivander. He – he wanted to know something from him,” Harry whispered.

“What, Harry?”

“Erm... I don’t know whether I should tell it here and I would wonder more whether you would know about it. Voldemort asked him about a fourth Unforgivable Curse; it had something to do with the plague...”

 

***

 

Ginny awoke at noon; her pyjamas ruffled; a light pain was rising from her spine. She pressed herself against the body against hers; it was Harry. She had swapped with Ron, she didn’t want to leave Harry. A hand took her hand. _Had he slept at all?_

A knock on the door announced Mrs.Weasley’s arrival; she brought Ginny a fresh robe. The conversation she had had with Harry a week ago payed off. Though she didn’t quite trust Ginny with Harry, she knew Harry respected Ginny and wouldn’t do any stupid things, especially not if he had just seen death. Not that that was an assurance; she knew all too well what the consequences of such tragic things could be, mainly a child. She closed the door of Ron’s room and went to the kitchen to open a closet where Bill’s old mug stood. _Things were different back then_ , she thought, convinced she was right.***A few moments later both Harry and Ginny descended the stairway to have breakfast.

“Are Ron and Hermione still asleep?” Harry asked.

“They were vast asleep when I got in, so I assume they are. Why?” Mrs.Weasley answered.

“Because I need to go to the Ministerial Archives today and I think I’d feel better if someone accompanied me.”

It was obvious he had been hoping his two friends were still asleep, Ginny would be the only one left to go along. _Kids_ , Mrs.Weasley thought, _will they every change?_

“Well, I don’t think both of them will be capable at the moment, they’ve been talking for a couple of hours after you two went to bed. It’ll surprise me if they will show themselves before the evening.”

“Can I go with him?” Ginny asked.

“Depends on how you’re going. I will not let you side-Apparate yet; Harry hasn’t got his license yet and you are going to the Ministry...” Mrs.Weasley answered.

“We could use the Floo Network; the Ministry’s always accessible through it,” Ginny proposed.

“Oh, all right. You can go.” She couldn’t deny this to her daughter. Besides, she was going to the Ministry and she was able to deal with difficulties.

“Thanks, mum.” She smiled; Harry too grinned.

 

***

 

“Can you believe it has been over a year we were here?”

“A lot has happened since... Look at the wizard’s head, it’s still off.”

“I never really saw the head being chopped off, Harry. Dumbledore portkeyed us directly into the Great Hall from the Department of Mysteries.”

“Probably, I think he wanted to avoid us from being interrogated by the Wizengammot or something like that –- not a nice feeling, I can tell.”

“What way do we need to go?”

“Erm... I’m not sure. Do you see any signs indicating the Archive?”

“No.”

They passed a lot of witches and wizards who were waiting for elevators. As Harry followed one witch heading back for the information desk, his eyes caught something. _Security_. Their wands! He had almost forgotten about them.

“Ginny, we need to go to the Security’s desk to get our wands registered, otherwise they might think we’re trying to overthrow the Ministry!”

Ginny chortled. “You don’t mean that, I hope?”

“I’m bloody serious! You never know, Umbridge still works here.” Ginny stopped laughing, the thought of Umbridge and her toad-like face chilling her mood. They entered the desk of the wizard who had registered Harry’s wand two years ago. Harry couldn’t recall the his name.

“Hi, we’re two visitors,” spoke Harry.

“Wands please,” a bored voice said. Ginny handed her wand over first. The man put it on a golden instrument, and a piece of parchment sped out a slit in the base.

“I’ll keep this. Other wand, please.”

Harry gave him his wand.

“Eleven inches, phoenix-feather core, am I correct?”

“Yes, you are.”

“I’ll keep this,” the man said while he pointed at the piece of parchment. He looked up; his eyes darted from Harry’s badge to Ginny’s badge.”

“Aren’t you Arthur Weasley’s daughter? And Harry Potter, didn’t thought to see you again.”

“Well, I have to look into the Archive,” answered Harry.

“Well, then you’ve come to the wrong place.”

“How come? I am correct by saying this is the Ministry of Magic, am I?”

“I thought the Ministry decided to keep everything at one central point centuries ago? Why is the Archive not here then?” Ginny asked.

“Look, how much I’d like to tour you two, I don’t have time to do it! Please, go and ask your father, he’ll know the answer to your questions. Now, would you like to step aside, there’s somebody coming.” At this the two left.

“Can’t blame him. I’d be as moody as he is if I’d have to look at the toad’s face everyday,” exclaimed Ginny.

Harry grinned; he loved her when she was angry at other people.

“So are we going to see your father?” Harry asked.

“It’d be rude not to visit him, would it?” she replied.

They entered the nearest elevator and got off on the second level. There were more people now than two years ago. _Luckily_ , Harry thought, _otherwise the Ministry really wouldn’t be fighting a war_. As Mr.Weasley got promoted last year, Harry didn’t really know where Mr.Weasley could be situated.

“Do you know where your father’s office could be?” he asked.

“No, I haven’t been here since his promotion. Perhaps over there?” She pointed at the corridor with cubicles.

“No, that’s the Auror department. Look at all those pictures of Snape! I’m glad to know he’s wanted, otherwise there’d be something very wrong with modern admiration.”

As Ginny wanted to answer they saw a small woman emerging from one of the cubicles. It was Umbridge. They sped towards one of the other corridors, trying to avoid her. At the end of another corridor they bumped into Mr.Weasley, who looked surprised to find them at his work.

“What are you doing here? Is something wrong with Molly?”

“No, dad, nothing’s wrong with mum. Actually we, erm, we’ve been looking for the Ministerial Archive. Apparently it isn’t here?”

“Of course the Archive isn’t here! Even with magic it needs a lot of space to hold all of the documents the Ministry produces. The Archive is outside town.”

“Had to know it wouldn’t be easy to get,” said Harry.

Mr.Weasley’s voice dropped. “You know, Harry, they don’t want to put more people on the search of Ollivander. I reckon this is one of the most important things to do at the moment!”

“So what is going to happen?” Harry asked.

“The Order is having a meeting tomorrow. You, and you,” he pointed at Harry and Ginny, “are invited, as are Ron and Hermione. You will have to tell us every detail you’ve seen, Harry. Now, go back to the Burrow. It’s a wise thing to think before you act, remember that. I will see both of you tonight!” 


	3. The Phoenix Spreads His Wings

“She knows everything we know?” asked Ron.

“Yes, I told her about the Ho –“ Harry stopped. Mrs.Weasley entered the living room with a basket of fresh clothes and socks in her arms. “About the house, you know. But she doesn’t know as much as you two do. She hasn’t been around the way you were, obviously she missed a lot because of that. I don’t want to hide anything from her, though. Do you understand?”

“Yeah, I get it. I hope you’re sure about this, mate. If anything happens to her, I’ll kill you.”

“You went to the Archive with her?” Hermione asked.

“Well, ‘to the Archive’... we thought we were going to the Archive. Apparently it is located somewhere else than the Ministry. We still need to visit it, but our trip to the Ministry wasn’t worthless either. We ran into Mr.Weasley; he told us the Aurors aren’t allowed to investigate the disappearance of Ollivander any more,” Harry said.

“Scrimgeour isn’t really taking an innovative way, is he?” Ron commented.

“And we have to attend a meeting of the Order tomorrow. Ginny’s coming as well,” said Harry.

They discussed the possible subjects of such a meeting for a while, eventually Ginny joined the conversation. The three of them got irritated after a few hours, however, by the enthusiasm Ron showed. It vaguely reminded Hermione of the numerous times Harry ranted on about Malfoy. In the end they decided Hermione would take Ron to the Archive, while Harry and Ginny would go to Diagon Alley with Mrs.Weasley. It would be one of the first times Harry would visit Diagon Alley without a bunch of people protecting him, though Harry was sure that a few members of the Order would be around anyhow.

 

***

 

Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione entered a tent in the garden of the Burrow. It hadn’t been there a couple of minutes ago and already it had a load of protective spells on it. Apparently this was what the Order considered to be headquarters ever since Grimmauld Place was abandoned of all Order activity. There were a lot of people Harry didn’t know. Some he recognised as visitors of Bill and Fleur's wedding. Other, more familiar faces he greeted. Everybody was a tad nervous; everybody had heard of a fourth Unforgivable Curse already, even if a lot didn't know the context. Everybody seemed to sit in a specific order around the round table, but an obvious structure was missing.

“I think we can begin the meeting,” Mr.Weasley said.

Everybody stopped whispering and focused their attention upon Mr.Weasley. The four teenagers weren't far from him; probably because they were guests of honour.

“Excused for the meeting so far are Alastor, Bill, Fleur and Ambreton. Moody notified earlier that there was some fuss in Hogsmeade he wanted to investigate. Bill and Fleur obviously are on honeymoon, but promised to check upon some warlocks Bill wanted to persuade in joining the Order. Ambreton, of course, is busy with the search of Ollivander in Albania. The Romanian delegation for this meeting is my son, Charlie, and his girlfriend Katarina,” Mr.Weasley stated and double-checked the parchment in front of him. A tap of his wand caused it to burn into oblivion.

“Thank you, Arthur. Now, I’d like to put attention on the fact that someone will have to visit our foreign departments. The North American Order has got difficulties fighting off giants and bears, while our Chinese colleagues made a deal with a couple of giants in the Himalaya. And we urgently need a South-African department; the interest in the Dark Arts over there is peeking,” Shacklebolt stopped.

At the sound of it, Dumbledore must've been a very important wizard. Harry wondered about the things Dumbledore had murmered on his broomstick the day he died; could it have been Chinese?

As the general announcements had finished, all attention was drawn to Harry and the scene he had seen. He didn’t pause and concentrated on the table in front of him. Now and then he exchanged a glimpse of Ginny’s hand, which clutched his right hand, togain more confidence. It didn’t took long to tell the story. What he had seen was a small piece of Ollivander’s captivation, but it was enough for Harry to tell the Order.

“We understand, Harry,” Lupin said, as Harry had concluded by confessing he couldn't handle a murder that evening.

“It’d be easier if we had more information about this Black Death Curse. From what you’ve said it’s even worse than the Killing Curse,” Kingsley Shacklebolt commented.

“Never knew such a curse existed. But I haven’t been interested in the Dark Arts that much,” a witch breathed to her neighbour.

“It seems some of us will have to research this, but I think it’s best we put an extra magical eye on our direct environment.” Lupin said.

“I bet you won’t find a thing,” Mad-Eye Moody growled.

“Alastor! We didn’t expect you to make it!” Mr.Weasley exclaimed.

“As soon as I arrived in Hogsmeade I knew things weren’t good. There were some Aurors investigating the houses. Some bloke found Ollivander this afternoon; seems he has been dropped there. Aberforth, I’d say you’ll have got to eavesdrop a bit more in your pub.”

An old beardy wizard grunted he couldn’t do that, since he already was eavesdropping so much without people noticing it. George retorded he could use one of the extendable ears he and Fred sold in their jokeshop. The wizard grunted one last time before accepting his task.

“What did you say about that curse, Moody?” Shacklebolt asked.

“I’m saying you won’t find it in the normal wizarding world. Took me years to know it existed and I hadn’t even found it myself. Dumbledore told me about it, but he didn’t told me much, though.”

“What did he tell you then?”

“I’ll have to check my Pensieve, because I don't know for sure anymore,” Moody said, more to himself than to Shacklebolt.

“All right, but notify us as soon as possible, will you? Under no circumstances can Voldemort know more than we.”

Moody went to sit on one of the empty chairs at the far end of the table. The table’s attention now was drawn to a polite coughing Lupin.

“Now we know this, I’d like to move to new issues, such as accepting these four in our ranks,” Lupin pointed towards Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hermione.

“Wait a minute, Remus, I don’t agree with this. They’re much too young, they shouldn’t join,” Mrs.Weasley protested.

“They went through a lot more than some of the Order’s members, Molly. They deserve to be members. And do you really think they'll be better off without membership?”

Mrs.Weasley glared at Lupin; her mother instinct had lost from logic. Lupin continued.

“I know one of them, Ginevra Weasley, is underage and will not turn seventeen within a year, but she has proven herself to be very talented and brave. We need as many people on our side as well. Having some underage members might become handy in the future. Bear in mind that age isn't constant and we even don't know how long the war will take.”

"All in favour of this proposal, raise hands, please," Mr.Weasley said.

To Harry’s surprise hands rose. They understood what must be done. Mr.Weasley examined the number of hands in the air, checked the number of people in the room and took out his wand. A fire brought forth a scroll of parchment, different from the one he had used before. Mr.Weasley took a quill and wrote four names down. Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger and last, Ginevra Weasley.

The meeting continued until people said they needed to go back home. Mr.Weasley and Shacklebolt, both secretary of the Order ended the meeting. Shacklebolt went home, but Tonks, Lupin and Moody stayed. They needed a word with the four new members. Mrs. and Mr.Weasley would join them.

“Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Harry, we need a quick word about the Order. Let’s go to the living room, shall we?” Lupin said.

 

***

 

When the last member had left, Moody made the tent disappear and entered the Burrow as well. The adults took seats opposite the teenagers.

“As you might’ve noticed, Lupin mentioned a certain advantage of underage wizards in the Order,” Mr.Weasley spoke.

“I heard it. What’s it about?” Hermione asked.

“In the last meeting we discussed about the past years at Hogwarts and what would happen with it if Dumbledore would be gone. Fortunately McGonnagall is a member of the Order and agreed with what we're about to propose. You heard about the Ministry’s plans with the Aurors?” Mr.Weasley answered.

“Do you mean the team they’re going to place in Hogwarts?” Harry asked; Mr.Weasley nodded.

“I’m one of the Aurors who will be placed at Hogwarts," Tonks continued, " in addition to my task as an Auror, I’ll be giving Transfiguration. Scrimgeour wanted to interfere the way Fudge did. He wanted to place someone from another department first, but I volunteered. I already needed to be in Hogwarts and Transfiguration is one of my best subjects. I would love to teach it.”

Ginny and Hermione smiled. They admired Tonks for being a Metamorphmagus and already claimed Tonks would be a lovely Transfiguration teacher a while ago.

“So there’s another member of the Order constantly present at Hogwarts. That’s good, really good. Two years ago, when McGonnagall and Hagrid were gone there only was Snape. When the Ministry tries to dispose themselves from Hagrid and McGonnagall again, the Order’ll still have someone. Marvelous,” Harry reasoned.

“I won’t be the only member if such a thing happens, Harry,” she replied.

“Bill will be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts,” Mrs.Weasley revealed. This time Ron smiled.

“All right! Now I don’t have to worry about DADA anymore!” He said.

“Oh, yes, you will. I already told him he needs to treat you as a normal pupil.”

“Why will he be a teacher?” Hermione asked.

“They discovered he’s been bitten by Fenrir Grayback. Said they had to keep their image up and McGonnagall had difficulties finding a new DADA teacher. She offered the job at long last to Bill.”

"Now, folks, we need to get back to original purpose of this conversation," Moody said. "We need you to put a club up that'll guarantee an Order friendly environment."

“Why don’t you organise that club you held in your fifth year?” Lupin suggested.

“Dumbledore’s Army?” Ginny asked.

“Yes, that’s the one. It seems like a good idea as long as you don’t change its name.” Lupin confirmed.

“Why not?” Ron interjected.

“Because if you’d go out and call it 'the Order', it would be too obvious. The two can’t be related, at least not to strangers. Only members of the Order should know about the connection,” Mr.Weasley warned.

“We’ll have a problem with the leadership of it, though,” Hermione said.

“Why?” Harry asked.

“Because you won’t be at Hogwarts and the main purpose of the DA was you to learn us things against the Dark Arts,” Hermione answered.

“Oh, right. I will visit once in a while, of course.”

“The DA will need more meetings than the times you show up, Harry.”

“Why don’t you three lead it? I can give you some tips and tricks. Besides, I think you’ll need to have two groups,” Moody suggested.

“What do you mean? The DA already counted thirty, that should be enough, won’t it?” Ron questioned.

“I think you’ll need more than thirty to make a decent army. You’ll need two groups, one with beginners and a more advanced group. Your old DA can join the advanced group, but newcomers will have to begin with the beginning,” Moody said.

“Right. Now we need two leaders. Where will we find them?” Ron figured. Ginny gave him an are-you-dumb-look.

“You two, of course. You’re the next best thing beside Harry; always being at his side; knowing every detail of the things that happened to him. Well, almost every detail.” 


	4. The Oath

“Do you have your list with you?” Mrs.Weasley asked Harry.

“Yes, Mrs.Weasley, it’s in my pocket,” he answered.

“All right. Ginny, you go first, then you, Harry. I’ll be right behind.”

Ginny took some Floo powder and threw it into the fire. She stepped in the fire and yelled, “Diagon Alley!” Harry took a pinch of the glittering powder and did the same. He spun into the shabby inn Harry knew as Leaky Cauldron. When he stood steadily, Ginny already was wiping dust of his shoulder. Mrs.Weasley arrived a few seconds later; she removed the dust on her shoulders herself.

“Shall we?” Mrs.Weasley asked. As she turned to the entrance of Diagon Alley, Harry gave Ginny a swift kiss on the cheek. They went to Madam Malkin's to buy new robes for Harry and Ginny. Harry, vaguely knowing what he would do during the following months, chose dark robes. One had a pocket he could close, while another robe had no pockets at all – merely a tiny bag attached to the robe; a wandbag. Ginny tried a few robes, even a dark pink one, but chose a green one in the end. Still, Harry admitted, she looked wonderful.

When they had paid Madam Malkin, Harry’s eyes began searching the shops for stores which had Dark Arts detectors and such, but couldn’t find any obvious places.

“Mrs.Weasley, do you know where I can get, erm, Dark Arts detectors?”

“Fred and George have got some anti-Dark Arts items. But I think you mean more serious things than jokeshop material?”

“Something like that, yes.”

“We could try Jihrahn’s shop, he has some fine things.”

So the trio went to Jihrahn, an old Arabian man, who apparently was a new shop owner. Ginny wondered why she had never heard her mother talk about this Jihrahn bloke. The shop itself consisted of one large room with a lot of shelves, which went at least twenty feet up.

“Good morning, I’m Jihrahn. With what can I be at your service?” the rather plumb man asked.

“I’m looking for some foe glasses, but they need to be mobile. I need to carry them around.” Harry answered.

“I see... Hmmm...” He looked at Harry’s glasses. “What if I put that detecting charm on your glasses? You’d be able to turn the detecting on and off with a simple _Nigratir_. It saves you the costs of the glass itself as well.”

“That’s fine by me,” confirmed Harry, handing his glasses over to Jihrahn, who drew his wand and began to murmur strange charms on it. Mrs.Weasley was looking at a fake wand detector and planned to buy it when Mr.Weasley’s salary for July would be paid, it had been an expensive month. Meanwhile Ginny told Harry what he had walked into, because, obviously, he was having troubles seeing. After ten minutes, Jihrahn finished bewitching Harry’s glasses and gave them back.

“The glasses’ll still cost you five galleons, a bargain in this case. Now, try them. Don’t worry about underage magic, the magic is in the glasses and is mine; the incantation, _Nigratir_ , is more a switch.”

Harry closed his eyes, breathed _Nigratir_ and opened his eyes. His environment turned black and white; hostile objects kept their colour.

“I think it’s working. How do I put it off?”

“Just say _Nigratir_ again. Now, your glasses can work reversed as well. They are able to detect the friendliest thing in your environment. That spell is called _Nigritar_ , but I warn you in using the two mixed, because the friendliest thing in the room isn’t necessarily the purest of heart.”

“Ok, I think I understand. Do you have goblets?” Ginny looked a bit taken aback at him.

“Of course. What kind of goblet would you like?”

“One which fills, but clears itself automatically. In which you can take the drink, but you don’t actually need to drink it.”

“Oh. Such goblets. I had a few last month, but they’ve been sold and I haven’t ordered anything from that company since. Algerian import, not always an assurance of quality. I could order it if you’d like.”

“That won’t be necessary. I’ll manage without.”

“Do you need anything else?”

“No, that’ll be it,” Harry responded. He saw Mrs.Weasley staring at the fake wand detectors again. “Mrs.Weasley, take a detector, I’ll pay.”

“It’s okay, Harry, I don’t need it.”

“But you do need it! How many times did Fred and George manage to use a fake one instead of a real one?”

Begrudgingly, she took a detector. Jihrahn had calculated the price of both items.

“That’ll be five Galleons and twenty-three Sickles.”

“Oh! Before I forget. Can you give me some Floo powder as well?” Harry remembered that in order to travel across the country he should have Floo powder, especially if he wanted to take Ginny with him. He paid the man six Galleons, which would include a large amount of powder, probably enough for twenty people to travel for a century.

 

***

 

Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione were going to meet each other at number 12 Grimmauld Place, Harry’s new residence, the former Black residence. Harry and Ginny arrived first. Harry led Ginny to the former drawing room, the new practice room. Harry couldn’t help to glimpse at the tapestry, but Ginny had other things planned; she pulled him away from the tapestry and embraced his body with her arms. Harry followed and put his arms around her neck. He brought his lips right in front of hers and kissed them.

 

***

 

“We haven’t found much about Regulus in the archives. He died a few months before your parents were murdered; he was found in St. Petersburg in Russia by some poor Muggles. The Ministry seemed to have difficulties with the Russian Ministry of Magic. Ministry officials weren’t allowed to put the Memory Charm on those Muggles and weren’t allowed to take Regulus’ body back to London,” Hermione reported.

“You should’ve seen the room! Rows and rows and rows filled with parchment. Unbelievable,” Ron added.

“So we, at least I, need to go to Russia ...” Harry summarised.

“How are you going to pull that one off?” Ginny asked.

“The Floo Network is out of league, we have to be very discreet and asking the Ministry to open a connection to some foreign country isn’t quite secretive,” Hermione reasoned.

“What about apparating? That should work, right?” Harry asked.

“I don’t know about any limits of apparating. I suppose it’ll take longer to cover the distance. I never apparated long distance, though,” Hermione answered.

“How long did it take to apparate back to Hogwarts when you left the cave, Harry?” Ginny asked.

Harry had never thought about that. He tried to remember the time, but couldn’t state exactly how long. The memory of that night had other heights than his apparition success.

“I’m not sure. Not that long though, which is a bit weird, considering the distance. The cave must’ve been somewhere south or east from London. The town shouldn’t be that far away from London. The orphanage was poor; they wouldn’t drive extra miles if it could be avoided. Then apparating to Scotland ...”

They discussed the possible limits of apparition the next couple of hours. Ron was convinced it was very dangerous to apparate to foreign countries; he hadn’t forgotten his lost eyebrow at the test in Hogsmeade. Hermione interjected by repeating the four D’s and especially the “destination” rule: in order to apparate you need to know where you’re heading to, you must know the destination personally. When they had agreed they didn’t know and Hermione planned to check it in some book, they went off to bed. Ginny, Ron and Hermione slept on the third floor, while Harry occupied the main bedroom on the second floor. Ron and Hermione were the first to go up; Ginny stayed with Harry for a while in the living room. She laid her head on his chest, Harry put his arm around her body and pressed her against him. These moments were his weapon against Voldemort.

 

***

 

After half an hour, when both of them had gotten weary eyes, they left for sleep. Harry kissed Ginny goodnight and entered his room. Immediately he bumped into a few wooden boxes. _Dumbledore’s Pensieve. I already forgot McGonnagall send it._

He took the Pensieve from the ground and placed it upon the night table next his bed. He then took the various boxes and began storing them in the build-in closet his room contained. As he was reading the labels upon the boxes, he read one entitled “Sirius Black”. _Had Sirius given Dumbledore memories?_ He opened the box, it had half a dozen bottles inside. The bottle in the middle interested Harry the most. “The Marauders Oath”

He took it, left the other boxes in chaos and he stepped to the Pensieve. He poured the silvery content of the bottle inside the Pensieve. The silver swirled and revealed faces. James, Sirius, Lupin and Peter Pettigrew in a circle, wands in their hands. Harry took his own wand, touched the surface of the Pensieve, the memory swirled faster. He put his head in the liquid; his consciousness left his bedroom.***Harry was in the dormitory on the sixth floor of the tower. There were four figures inside the room; he estimated them to be in their sixth year.

“Is the oath ready?” James asked.

“I finished it a couple hours ago,” Peter answered.

“Well, where is it?” Sirius asked.

“Oh. It’s in my trunk, I’ll go and get it,” Peter said. He went to the trunk aside of the left bed. He grabbed a piece of parchment and returned.

“All right. Moony, you know what we must do?” James asked.

“Yes, yes. We first have to draw our wands, point them at the centre of our human circle and speak the first part of the oath together. Then everybody has to swear their promise to pledge the future. I’d say: first you, Prongs, then Padfoot, Wormtail, me. When this part is done, I need to say the first line of the first part, then Wormtail has got to say the second line, Padfoot the third and Prongs the fourth. At last we have to swear the first part again. I hope you prepared it this way, Wormtail.”

“Otherwise we would be fools, standing here at the verge of swearing some ancient oath with the wrong paperwork,” Sirius added.

“I’m not dumb, you know,” Peter commented.

“Are we going to do this or are we going to stand here until Snivellus joins us?” James asked.

“Let’s begin, shall we? The phrase is: ‘ _If loyalty departs us and friendship defies us, we will live to fulfil and die to confirm. Marauders unite, through darkness we strike_ ,’” Peter said, and shifted his wand to the middle. The others followed his command, looked at each other, nodded and shouted.

“ _IF LOYALTY DEPARTS US AND FRIENDSHIP DEFIES US, WE WILL LIVE TO FULFIL AND DIE TO CONFIRM. MARAUDERS UNITE, THROUGH DARKNESS WE STRIKE._ ”

Harry saw a faint glow erupting from the circle's core. He moved closer to see it better. A small globe spread orange beams of light on the Marauders’ faces. His father, James, spoke, reading the words Peter had written.

“To live life purest.”

“To stand and deliver,” Sirius spoke.

The globe grew, the colour of the light turned bright red.

“To serve and honour,” Peter said.

“To disguise and distinguish,” Lupin said. The globe reached blood red and covered the space above their wands; the light emitting from it lightened the room. Harry watched, impressed, as Lupin continued.

“If loyalty departs us and friendship defies us,”

“We will live to fulfil and die to confirm,” Peter firmly said.

“Marauders unite,” Sirius evoked.

“Through darkness we strike,” James finished.

The globe of light had risen feet above the four Marauders, who were about to shout the oath again.

“ _IF LOYALTY DEPARTS US AND FRIENDSHIP DEFIES US, WE WILL LIVE TO FULFIL AND DIE TO CONFIRM. MARAUDERS UNITE, THROUGH DARKNESS WE STRIKE_.”

As their voice echoed, the globe exploded into four pieces of dark green light. One went into James’ heart, another went through Sirius’ chest, the third jumped to Peter’s head. Harry saw the light descending to Peter’s heart. The fourth piece entered Lupin’s heart, like it had done with James. The beams of magical light faded and the four Marauders left the dormitory. Harry returned to his room at 12 Grimmauld Place.

 

***

 

“Wow! What have you been doing last night?” uttered Ron as Harry entered the kitchen. He looked like he had kept a rough party and had fallen asleep in front of his house.

“I’ve been thinking.” Harry said, grabbing a chair so he could sit. Hermione gave him a plate, a knife, a toast and some butterbeer.

“About?” Hermione informed.

“My dad, Sirius, Lupin and Wormtail.”

“What about Wormtail?” Ginny asked as she entered the room.

“I saw a memory of Sirius last night, about the Marauders.”

“Is it important? Because it’d be a bit stupid if Sirius gave one of the Marauders’ pranks to Dumbledore…” Hermione asked.

“It’s very important; I saw them swearing an oath.”

“What kind of oath?” Ginny asked.

“An oath of trust and friendship. It kinda explains the life-debt Dumbledore told me about.”

“Can we see it? The memory, I mean. It must be interesting to see,” Ginny tried. She had never used a Pensieve before and wondered how it felt like. Harry had told her about it, but she didn’t understand it that well. Her brother wondered about it as well; he had heard Harry talk about Dumbledore and other people’s memories, but always wanted that he had seen the memory himself.

“I guess so. When do you want to watch it?” Harry said.

“Now?” Ron asked.

“I do have got to say that only two at a time can watch it. Since none of you ever worked with a Pensieve, it’ll be only one of you that’ll join me.”

Ginny and Ron were already at the door when Ron’s belly rumbled. He quickly returned to the table, grabbed his toast and went to the doorway. Harry, who felt like he had no choice at this point of the evening, grabbed his toast as well. This seemed the sign for Hermione to stand up too. They mounted the stairs till the second floor. Hermione restrained Ron and Ginny when they were in front of Harry’s bedroom.

“You don’t have to worry, Hermione. I haven’t had the chance to mess it up yet.” Harry grinned. Unbelievable, Harry thought. He opened the door and gestured them inside. As he entered himself he noticed his room was rather untidy, there were boxes filled with memories everywhere.

“How are we going to do this, Harry?” Ron asked, looking at the boxes and the Pensieve. Harry felt an urge to have fun; he finally understood the consequences of the Marauders’ oath: Wormtail had to help Harry and clear his darkened path he had token seventeen years ago in order for him to unchain himself from the oath. Harry had a weapon, a powerful weapon.

“I’d say you take the that pile of boxes, Hermione’ll organise the boxes in my closet and Ginny can stay with me on the bed.” Ron threw a pillow against Harry’s head.

“Don’t be such a prick. You know what I’m talking about. Who goes first?” He looked at his sister and his lover. Hermione gave him and Ginny an anticipating gaze. Ron and Ginny looked at each other and finally agreed.

“What do I have got to do exactly?” Hermione walked to the bedside table that held the Pensieve; Harry already sat in front of it.

“Just put your head in the liquid when I say so,” He took his wand and moved the liquid a bit.

“Ready? Here we go.”

Harry entered his father’s dormitory again. He looked around to check whether Hermione was there as well. She stood right behind him. Harry followed the oath’s events with an eye for detail. Instead of keeping an eye on James and Sirius, he observed Peter. When the four boys had left the dormitory, Harry gestured Hermione to leave. He took her arm and returned back to the room.

“Keep what you’ve seen for yourself for a moment, Hermione. I want the others to form an opinion about it as well, before discussing it.” She nodded and went to sit on the far end of the bed. The Weasley’s youngest descendants had decided who’d go second during their time alone. Ron came to sit next to Harry, who told him the same thing he had told Hermione.

Ron was especially impressed by the graphical magic and the strength that laid in the words every member said; they reminded him of the tales about Merlin’s knights Mrs.Weasley had read to him when he still was a child. The only thing he said when Harry had returned them back to the present was:

“Wow.”

Ginny had pushed him aside befor e Ron even noticed he was sitting next to Hermione instead of Harry. Harry wanted to tell Ginny what he had told Ron and Hermione, but she told him she knew what to do. She was anxious in experiencing her first Pensieve journey. When they entered Sirius’ memory, Ron turned to Hermione.

“That was amazing,” he said.

“I’m not surprised he didn’t sleep last night. It really is important for the relationship of Harry towards Wormtail. Maybe it’ll even save his live one day...”

“Hermy, he didn’t want us to discuss it until everybody saw it, besides, I know something more fun to discuss.” He grabbed her and kissed her lips. She immediately responded the kiss and embraced his neck; it didn’t last long till her legs were around his body. As she kissed him again, a voice spoke.

“I hope you know that by giving my blessing for your relationship, I surely didn’t meant allowing you guys to start snogging in my room, let alone snog on my bed.”

Hermione jumped on the ground, embarrassed that she had been found in such an explicit position. Her move made Harry’s smile broaden; he had half expected Hermione would do such a thing. He searched his pocket for the fake Horcrux; it had been a long time since he had clutched it. His other hand took Ginny’s hand.

“What are your opinions about the thing?”

“It explains a lot, doesn’t it? Wormtail’s life debt to you makes sense now we know this,” Hermione said.

“No wonder Sirius was furious about Wormtail,” Ron added. “I’d want to kill him as well if he had done such a thing on me. And that idiot made that oath?”

“What about you, Ginny. What do you think?” Harry asked.

“I thought it’s a wonderful idea, swearing an oath like that. It’s an insurance of loyalty in the end, isn’t it?” she said.

“But look at Wormtail, he needs to help Harry because of that oath. Oh. I get it. Yeah, fantastic idea, sis,” Ron tried to object. He glimpsed at Harry to whom the idea also had occurred during the night.

“It is a risky thing to do of course. Then again, I don’t think anybody in this room will betray us...” Hermione reasoned. “And it’d be a wonderful idea to convince McGonnagall if she doesn’t allow us to help you, she can’t deny when our souls are endangered by this oath.”

“Our souls?” Harry asked.

“That’s what I said. These oaths must work through our souls, otherwise that big explosion at the end shouldn’t have ended with four pieces of light entering the Marauders’ hearts.”

“So we are going to do this?” Harry looked to the others; they were going to swear an oath.

“I’ll edit the original oath, we aren’t Marauders, so we can’t say we are,” Hermione said.

“But we could be. I mean, aren’t we already Marauders?” Ginny noticed.

“How’s that possible?”

“Well, we are hunting down the Horcruxes and will eventually raid Voldemort?”

“Then I’ll just have got to write one liners for the four of us…”

“I think I’ll use Sirius’ phrase,” Ron said.

“What was it again?” Hermione asked.

“It’s: ‘To stand and deliver’,” Harry answered.

 

***

 

The morning continued whilst the four of them thought of phrases that defined Hermione, Ginny and Harry. At noon they concluded and finished the oath. It was time to perform the oath, before Mrs.Weasley would arrive. Only they should know they had sworn an oath, for this particular knowledge could be abused.

“Ready? OK, draw your wands,” Ginny commanded. “All right, point them to the centre.”

They glanced nervously at each other and repeated what James, Sirius, Remus and Peter had done twenty years ago: they shouted and unleashed the oath.

" _IF LOYALTY DEPARTS US AND FRIENDSHIP DEFIES US, WE WILL LIVE FULFIL AND DIE TO CONFIRM. MARAUDERS UNITE, THROUGH DARKNESS WE STRIKE_."

A globe appeared.

“To cherish and destroy,” Harry said, turning the magical colour bright red.

“To hex and conquer,” Ginny conveyed, bright red darkened.

“To speculate and invalidate,” Hermione added.

“To stand and deliver,” Ron expressed, his face bloodred. “If loyalty departs us and friendship defies us...”

“...we will live to fulfil and die to confirm,” Hermione finished.

“Marauders unite...” Ginny said, the globe was rising.

“...through darkness we strike.” While Harry’s echo faded, four voices filled Harry’s room.

" _IF LOYALTY DEPARTS US AND FRIENDSHIP DEFIES US, WE WILL LIVE FULFIL AND DIE TO CONFIRM. MARAUDERS UNITE, THROUGH DARKNESS WE STRIKE_."

As in Sirius’ memory, the globe exploded into four, each piece entering one of the newfound Marauders’ hearts. When the light had disappeared and only the sun brought brightness in the room, the four remained standing; from now on they were bound to live inside their circle. A magical connection had been formed. 


End file.
